ASPPA & Western Benefits Conference

Retirement Plan Administrator
United Retirement Plan Consultants
in NJ

Plan Services Specialist I
MBM Advisors, Inc.
in TX

Actuarial Analyst
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

Health and Welfare Client Manager
Buck Consultants a Xerox Company
in ANY STATE

Client Administration Manager-Project Team
T. Rowe Price
in CO

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Cash Balance Outlook 2014
July 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(Kravitz)

Network Adequacy: Balancing Cost, Access and Quality
July 21, 2014 in DC
(Alliance for Health Reform)

Transitional Reinsurance Program: Contributing Entities and Counting Methods
July 23, 2014 WEBCAST
(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

What the New Healthcare Law Means for Your Small Business
July 31, 2014 WEBCAST
(Small Business Majority)

Nuts and Bolts Series: The Affordable Care Act and Employer Shared Responsibility Penalty
August 13, 2014 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

2014 Ethics Case Studies One
August 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

HSA Basics
August 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

Advanced HSAs
August 26, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

IRS Expected to Require Aggregating IRA Types for Rollover Limitation
"Based on new communications with the IRS, it now appears the IRS has reconsidered that position and believes that aggregating Traditional, Roth, and SIMPLE IRAs into a combined one-rollover limitation better reflects Congress' intended safeguards against abusive use of IRA assets as de facto lending instruments." (Ascensus)  

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Supreme Court Rejects Presumption for ERISA Fiduciaries, But Stock-Drop Claims Will Be Difficult to Sustain
"ESOP fiduciaries should consider reviewing existing procedures for monitoring company stock investments; engaging an independent fiduciary to make decisions on buying, holding and selling company stock; and reviewing ERISA fiduciary insurance and D&O policies to determine coverage for claims relating to company stock. Private company ESOPs should consider starting a dialog with their independent appraiser about the prudence of their valuation methods." [Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, No. 12-751 (U.S. June 25, 2014)] (Choate Hall & Stewart LLP)  

Supreme Court Returns to ERISA Statutory Basics, Rejects Moench Presumption: Implications for ESOP Trusts Holding Non-Publicly Traded Securities
"[F]iduciaries for ESOPs holding non-publicly traded employer securities or considering the acquisition of non-publicly traded employer securities should clearly document all actions, omissions, and deliberations with respect to such investments and transactions to reflect their procedural prudence. Furthermore, individuals and entities not intending to assume an ERISA fiduciary role for such ESOPs need to ensure that the ESOP and ERISA fiduciaries establish the procedural context of their independence." [Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, No. 12-751 (U.S. June 25, 2014)] (Jackson Lewis P.C.)  

Design and Implementation of Pension De-Risking Programs (PDF)
34 presentation slides summarize legal issues and concerns for plan sponsors when designing and implementing pension plan de-risking programs, such as lump-sum window programs, annuity purchases, and liability-driven investment programs, including tax-qualification issues, fiduciary considerations, and possible litigation concerns. (Morgan Lewis)  

Target Date Funds: Statistics That Matter
"Total dollars in TDFs today: $800 billion ... [This] train is speeding down a rickety track.... For example, 60% of TDF assets have been entrusted to just 3 firms -- T. Rowe Price, Vanguard and Fidelity -- so they control the industry. On an AUM (Assets Under Management) basis, the Big 3 manage $160 billion each on average, versus $5.5 billion for their 57 competitors, so they're 30 times bigger. These are fine firms, but the problem is that fiduciaries are not vetting their selection, opting instead to select their bundled service provider out of convenience and familiarity." (Paladin Research & Registry)  

How Does Goal-Oriented Targeting Work?
"Think about it. If, instead of leading with that big ol' seven digit number like that commercial did, when you ask, 'Hey! What's My Number?' what if the answer is '3%,' as in, 'you only need to keep doing what you're doing and earn a minimum investment return of 3% on average every year.' You can do 3%, right? Heck, you can probably do a lot more." (Fiduciary News)  

The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees, and Expenses, 2013 (PDF)
32 pages. Excerpt: "401(k) plan participants tend to be invested in lower-cost mutual funds. At year-end 2013, 86 percent of mutual fund assets in 401(k) plans were held in no-load funds, while 14 percent were held in load funds, predominantly in fund share classes that do not charge retirement plan participants a front-end load." (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

Nine Key Points Your Plan's Investment Policy Should Address
"Investment objectives ... Permissible and non-permissible asset classes ... Diversification objectives ... Ranges for each type of investment ... Benchmarks ... Expected rate of return ... Criteria for evaluating investment managers ... Review of the investment performance ... Proxy voting." (Bond Beebe Accountants & Advisors)  

Miscalculating the Retirement Income You'll Need
"Financial advisers measure replacement rates relative to final earnings ... The [Social Security Administration (SSA)] ... measures replacement rates relative to the wage-indexed average of lifetime earnings.... These are very different numbers that produce very different outcomes.... Retirement plans are in theory designed to help retirees maintain their standard of living as they move out of the labor force. The SSA's wage indexing overstates an individual's pre-retirement earnings, which raises the bar for what counts as adequate retirement income." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

Millennial Workers: An Emerging Generation of Super Savers
"New research reveals that the retirement savings habits of American Millennial workers (born between 1979 and 1996) are strong and that Millennials appear to be an emerging generation of retirement super savers. Millennial workers are already focused on retirement -- a large majority is saving for retirement, and started doing so a young age. Similarly, a large majority of those offered a 401(k) or similar plan participates in the plan. Millennials also have an opportunity to learn more about retirement and further strengthen their savings. These materials explore the survey findings about Millennial workers and offer recommendations for them, their employers and policymakers." [Includes links to summary and detailed survey results, infographics, and fact sheet.] (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)  

All-Passive DC Plans: Whose Interest Do They Serve?
"Sponsors were asked why they implemented passively managed funds in their plan. Nearly 75% of these sponsors said their primary reason was either 'alleviate threat of lawsuits' or 'fiduciary concerns.' The others said 'they do not believe active managers outperform' or cited 'cost of investments is the most important factor.' ... [T]he first two reasons could be classified as 'what's in my best interest as the plan sponsor?' ... First and foremost, [ERISA] requires plan sponsors do what's in the best interest of participants." (Russell Investments)  

Noteworthy Developments of Interest to Sponsors of Multiemployer Retirement Plans, Third Quarter 2014 (PDF)
"[T]he percentage of calendar-year multiemployer pension plans in the 'green zone' is 65 percent, up from 61 percent in 2013.... The percentage of plans in the yellow zone is 8 percent, down from 11 percent in 2013. The percentage in the red zone is 27 percent, down from 28 percent last year. The average PPA '06 funded percentage as of January 1, 2014, is 88 percent, up from 85 percent in 2013." (Segal Consulting)  

[Opinion]

This Road Work Made Possible by Underfunding Pensions
"When rates are low, as they are now, the government tells companies to set aside more money to pay for future pension benefits because they can't count on high returns on safe investments to cover pension costs. Some companies have complained that 'artificially low' interest rates are forcing them to actually overfund their plans. The 2012 highway bill and the new proposal give companies relief on that front, letting them fund their pensions based mostly on a historical 25-year average of interest rates; essentially, they're being allowed to calculate the cost of promising pension benefits on the basis of investments -- safe, high-yielding bonds -- that were once available to pension funds but can't be found today. This is wishful math." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

A Founding Father Profit Sharing Fix for Inequality
"Using Washington's cod fishery legislation as a model and Madison's ideas as a guide, we can explore a restructuring of the tax code to condition any business tax incentive on having some type of share plan for all employees -- whether it's broad-based profit sharing or an [ESOP].... Another proposal could involve a tax credit for any corporation that provides broad-based stock options or grants of stock to all of its workers. Silicon Valley would jump at such a proposal." (The Daily Beast)  

[Official Guidance]

Treasury Department Circular No. 230 (Rev. 6-2014): Regulations Governing Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service (PDF)
The IRS on June 9 finalized Circular 230 regulations (TD 9668), which adopted the approach taken in the proposed regulations, namely eliminating the covered opinion rules in former Circular 230 section 10.35 and instead subjecting all written tax advice to one standard under a revised section 10.37. This June 2014 revision and restatement of Circular 230 reflects the final regulations. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

The New Realities of Executive Compensation in the Banking Industry: The Impact of Regulatory and Shareholder Influence, 2013-2014 (PDF)
8 pages. "[T]his paper explores emerging trends related to executive compensation in the banking industry. It outlines perspectives from regulators and the impact they are having on pay programs. It also provides guidance on how to measure and ensure alignment between pay and performance to address shareholder goals. The two perspectives (regulators' and shareholders') are not always aligned, which is creating significant challenge in bank boardrooms across the United States and globally." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

Say-on-Pay Support Hits Record High in 2014
"Management say-on-pay proposals hit a record high of 2,229 in 2014, a 14.4 percent jump in the volume of advisory pay votes from 1,948 in 2013. Average support level for the 2014 management say-on-pay proposals were at a record 91.7 percent of votes cast, up slightly from 91.5 percent in 2013 and 90.7 percent in 2012. Only 51 of the 2,229 proposals failed to win majority shareholder backing." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

Pentegra Retirement Services Announces New Board Appointments
Pentegra Retirement Services

Mercer Launches Compensation Localizer for Streamlining Pay for Expatriates on Local Compensation Programs
Mercer

TIAA-CREF Releases 2014 Responsible Investment Report
TIAA-CREF

Envestnet Retirement Solutions Completes the Acquisition of Klein Decisions
Envestnet

OneAmerica Conducts Inaugural Pension Risk Transfer
OneAmerica Financial Partners

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